Huayna Potosi

After so many hikes with Job we needed a big one to surmount them all!

A climb to the summit of a 6088m mountain, Huayna Potosi, was the perfect challenge ...

We started on the first day by getting used to walking on steep inclines on ice in our cramp-on's and learning how to scale vertical walls of ice ... important skills for what was to come ...

Huayna Potosi .. from the starting point ..  a beautiful view .. or a very scary sight .. depending on whether you are about to climb to the top or not!?

Job and I at the second refuge the night before the big climb ...

After getting out of bed in sub zero temperatures at 1am we started our climb ...

After 2 hours of hard, slow walking along narrow snow trails in the dark we reached a very steep incline and began to climb with our ice picks ... the near vertical trail continued for around 25 vertical meters ... a little scary particularly in the dark!

After another 4 hours trudging in the snow, overcoming altitude sickness, tiredness and fatigue, we made it to 6000m above sea level.  The sun was starting to rise and we were able to see the final leg of our journey to the summit....

The following picture is the ridge we had to balance along to reach the top.   Without doubt this was the most terrifying thing I have ever forced myself to undertake.  The trail along the ridge was around 20cm wide ... with a small ledge to put your ice axe into as a walking stick.  At times this ledge disappeared leaving you to balance along a 20cm wide ice ledge .... on either side a shear drop with no chance of return if you place one step wrong...

Crazy you say .... I totally agree!  Gotta live though?!?... 

We made It!  Nice job, job!

Job and I with our trusty guide Felix ... thanks a heap Felix!  I don't know how you do this crazy shit twice a week...

Walking back down was possibly more tiring than up ... we were exhausted!  On top of that you can see the network of crevasses we were walking around the whole way up ... would not want to try this without a guide!

Isla del Sol

Another island in Lake Titicaca ... this time on the Bolivian side ... people have appartently lived on the Isla del Sol since the 3000 BC! Belived to be the birth place of the sun god, the Isla del Sol is scattered with ruins dedicated to him (or her).

We met two other Aussies on the way (Aarron & Lisa) and had a beautiful walk down the island together, seeing ice and ruins along the way.

The sacrificial alpaca stone - it is believed that animals and people were sacrificed here...

This local girl instantly attached herself to Ian, saying "quieres un photo, quieres un photo? Dos Bolivianos." (You want a photo, you want a photo? ... Two Bolivianos!).

The Isla Crew

Our mad pad in Copacabana

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is said to be the highest navigable lake in the world (3812m elevation), and by volume of water, it is the largest lake in South America. Located high in the Andes, with the border of Peru and Bolivia running through it, Lake Titicaca seems like an inland sea, and is astounding in it's beauty.

When the Spanish invaded, a group of indigenous people took to the lake to avoid being slaughtered, and have lived there ever since on the Islas de Uros - floating islands made of reed from the lake. There are 42 islands, each only about 30m wide, often containing 5 or more families living in little reed huts. One day per week is dedicated to maintaining the island, with new reed put down as the reed at the bottom of the island disintegrates away. The people here live a traditional life (apart from the 1 day each month when tourists visit their island; a necessity that is shared between the different islands to allow equal distribution of wealth) and speak a local dialect. The children go to school on the islands, and there is even a medical clinic floating amongst them too.

Another island on Lake Titicaca (this time stationary), Isla Taquile is like taking a step back in time. Used as a prison during Spanish colonisation, the Island of Taquile is amazingly untouched by modern culture: the women spin wool whilst the men knit ... ALL THE TIME. A person's marital status and their status in the community can be judged by the type of hat and clothing that they wear. Single men wear a red hat with white at the end, whilst married men wear totally red hats. A prospective mother-in-law will inspect the knitting of a man's hat to determine if he is worthy of marrying her daughter - hence the knitting of the region is world-renowned - the things a man will do to get that girl ...

Ian wearing the chief's hat - bow to me bitches